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The Imperfect Art: Reflections on Jazz and Modern Culture by Ted Gioia

by Ted Gioia | HC | Good
US $16.27
ApproximatelyRM 68.88
Condition:
Good
Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, ... Read moreabout condition
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Item specifics

Condition
Good
A book that has been read but is in good condition. Very minimal damage to the cover including scuff marks, but no holes or tears. The dust jacket for hard covers may not be included. Binding has minimal wear. The majority of pages are undamaged with minimal creasing or tearing, minimal pencil underlining of text, no highlighting of text, no writing in margins. No missing pages. See all condition definitionsopens in a new window or tab
Seller Notes
“Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, ...
Binding
Hardcover
Book Title
The Imperfect Art
Weight
0 lbs
Product Group
Book
IsTextBook
No
ISBN
9780195053432

About this product

Product Identifiers

Publisher
Oxford University Press, Incorporated
ISBN-10
0195053435
ISBN-13
9780195053432
eBay Product ID (ePID)
1835191

Product Key Features

Number of Pages
160 Pages
Language
English
Publication Name
Imperfect Art : Reflections on Jazz and Modern Culture
Publication Year
1988
Subject
General, Genres & Styles / Jazz
Features
Reprint
Type
Not Available
Subject Area
Music, Reference
Author
Ted Gioia
Format
Hardcover

Dimensions

Item Height
0.7 in
Item Weight
12 Oz
Item Length
8.4 in
Item Width
5.8 in

Additional Product Features

LCCN
87-034970
Reviews
"In seven intelligent, uncranky, well-written chapters, scholar andpianist Gioia provides a compelling primer on jazz aesthetics.... Gioiawrites...with great verve, peppering his theorizing with cogent profiles ofmajor figures and styles. Thoughtful jazz lovers of all degrees of musicalliteracy ought to be delighted and enlightened by Gioia's yeomanly effort. Arich little book."--Booklist, "This is a unique book on jazz. I highly recommend it as a bridge betweenthe jazz musician and layman."--Stan Getz
Dewey Edition
19
TitleLeading
The
Dewey Decimal
785.42/09
Intended Audience
Trade
Edition Description
Reprint
Synopsis
By the 1930s, the radio and phonograph had transformed the experience of music in America from unique, live performances to the repetitive playing or broadcasting of records. In an age of mechanical reproduction, music was everywhere, but as Ted Gioia points out in this brilliant new volume, its impact was watered down, debased. It had become, in Erik Satie's words, furniture music. Jazz, according to Gioia, stands opposed to this dehumanizing trend, emphasizing improvisation and the human element (the performer) over the work of art. Taking a wide-ranging approach rare in jazz criticism, Gioia draws upon fields as disparate as literary criticism, art history, sociology, and aesthetic philosophy as he places jazz within the turbulent cultural environment of the 20th century. The book can be read on several levels: as a history of jazz and a study of its major figures; as a critique of major schools of thought, such as minimalism, deconstruction, and primitivism; as an attempt to define precise standards of good and bad in jazz; and as a meditation on the possibility of improvised art. Gioia argues that because improvisation--the essence of jazz--must often fail under the pressure of on-the-spot creativity, jazz should be seen as an imperfect art and judged by an aesthetics of imperfection, which he outlines in a key chapter. Incorporating the thought of such seminal thinkers as Walter Benjamin, José Ortega y Gasset, and Roland Barthes, The Imperfect Art is a feast for the thoughtful jazz afficionado, filled with vivid portraits of the giants of jazz and with startling insight into this vital musical form and the interaction of society and art., By the 1930s, the radio and phonograph had transformed the experience of music in America from unique, live performances to the repetitive playing or broadcasting of records. In an age of mechanical reproduction, music was everywhere, but as Ted Gioia points out in this brilliant new volume, its impact was watered down, debased. It had become, in Erik Satie's words, "furniture music." Jazz, according to Gioia, stands opposed to this dehumanizing trend, emphasizing improvisation and the human element (the performer) over the work of art. Taking a wide-ranging approach rare in jazz criticism, Gioia draws upon fields as disparate as literary criticism, art history, sociology, and aesthetic philosophy as he places jazz within the turbulent cultural environment of the 20th century. The book can be read on several levels: as a history of jazz and a study of its major figures; as a critique of major schools of thought, such as minimalism, deconstruction, and primitivism; as an attempt to define precise standards of good and bad in jazz; and as a meditation on the possibility of improvised art. Gioia argues that because improvisation--the essence of jazz--must often fail under the pressure of on-the-spot creativity, jazz should be seen as an "imperfect art" and judged by an "aesthetics of imperfection," which he outlines in a key chapter. Incorporating the thought of such seminal thinkers as Walter Benjamin, José Ortega y Gasset, and Roland Barthes, The Imperfect Art is a feast for the thoughtful jazz afficionado, filled with vivid portraits of the giants of jazz and with startling insight into this vital musical form and the interaction of society and art., By the 1930s, the radio and phonograph had transformed the experience of music in America from unique, live performances to the repetitive playing or broadcasting of records. In an age of mechanical reproduction, music was everywhere, but as Ted Gioia points out in this brilliant new volume, its impact was watered down, debased. It had become, in Erik Satie's words, "furniture music." Jazz, according to Gioia, stands opposed to this dehumanizing trend, emphasizing improvisation and the human element (the performer) over the work of art. Taking a wide-ranging approach rare in jazz criticism, Gioia draws upon fields as disparate as literary criticism, art history, sociology, and aesthetic philosophy as he places jazz within the turbulent cultural environment of the 20th century. The book can be read on several levels: as a history of jazz and a study of its major figures; as a critique of major schools of thought, such as minimalism, deconstruction, and primitivism; as an attempt to define precise standards of good and bad in jazz; and as a meditation on the possibility of improvised art. Gioia argues that because improvisation--the essence of jazz--must often fail under the pressure of on-the-spot creativity, jazz should be seen as an "imperfect art" and judged by an "aesthetics of imperfection," which he outlines in a key chapter. Incorporating the thought of such seminal thinkers as Walter Benjamin, Jose Ortega y Gasset, and Roland Barthes, The Imperfect Art is a feast for the thoughtful jazz afficionado, filled with vivid portraits of the giants of jazz and with startling insight into this vital musical form and the interaction of society and art.", Taking a wide-ranging approach rare in jazz criticism, Gioia draws upon fields as disparate as literary criticism, art history, sociology, and aesthetic philosophy as he places jazz within the turbulent cultural environment of the 20th century. The book can be read on several levels: as a history of jazz and a study of its major figures; as a critique of major schools of thought, such as minimalism, deconstruction, and primitivism; as an attempt to define precise standards of good and bad in jazz; and as a meditation on the possibility of improvised art. Incorporating the thought of such seminal thinkers as Walter Benjamin, Jose Ortega y Gasset, and Roland Barthes, The Imperfect Art is a feast for the thoughtful jazz afficionado, filled with vivid portraits of the giants of jazz and with startling insight into this vital musical form.
LC Classification Number
ML3506.G56 1988

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